Rehnquist
in hospital

Chief Justice William Rehnquist

Chief Justice William Rehnquist is being treated for thyroid cancer at Bethesda Naval Hospital.

He is expected to be released from the hospital later this week and return to work Monday.

The news comes a little more than one week before the election of a president who could appoint several new justices in the next term due to expected retirements.

Rehnquist, 80, underwent a tracheotomy Saturday, according to a Supreme Court statement released today.

The court is not scheduled to meet again until Monday.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said “the president and Mrs. Bush wish Chief Justice Rehnquist a speedy recovery.”

“Our thoughts and prayers are with him,” McClellan said.

The Supreme Court’s brief press release gave no other details about Rehnquist’s condition.

Rehnquist was named to the court in 1972 by President Richard Nixon. He became chief justice in 1986 under President Reagan.

He is the second oldest chief justice in American history.

He has been one of three justices on the divided high court who consistently takes positions regarded as conservative, along with Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

Although many have speculated on his retirement, he has hired law clerks through June 2006 and made no mention of it at his Oct. 1 birthday celebration.

The last appointment to the Supreme Court was 1994, when then-President Clinton chose Stephen Breyer to replace the retiring Justice Harry M. Blackmun.